Appeal No. 2005-1574
Application 09/753,428
the surface embossed texture is imparted in whole or in part by patterned rollers before the
extruded material is solidified, wherein the patterned rollers can remove foam bubbles and areas
of burst bubbles from the surface.
We determine that this language of step “E.)” in combination with the transitional term
“comprising” encompasses an embodiment illustrated by a post-extruder treatment system
shown in specification Fig. 3,3 wherein the extruded material formed by die head and die lip
assembly 42 crosses a space before entering cooling roller unit 117 and introduced to the nip
between the two rollers that would have been understood by one of ordinary skill in this art to be
counter-rotating, wherein cooling roller unit 117 can have “zero to three sets of two rollers” and
the temperature can be controlled at a range of about 5° to about 30°C, that is, about 41° to about
86°F (specification, e.g., page 32, ll. 11-15, and page 33, ll. 2-8); the thus rolled and cooled
extruded material crosses a second space before entering roller system 110 and introduced to the
nip of the first two rollers and then the nip of the second and third rollers of three counter-
rotating rollers, wherein the temperature can be controlled at a range of about 25° to about
250°C, that is, about 77° to about 482°F (id., e.g., page 33, l. 10, to page 34, l. 2); and the thus
further rolled and cooled extruded material crosses a third space before encountering support
rollers 120, on which the extruded material is still further cooled and solidified, generally under
ambient temperature which can be intensified by blowers (id., e.g., page 34, 1l. 3-6). We
determine that one of ordinary skill in this art would understand that the roller surfaces, both
patterned and smooth, of roller systems 117, 110 and 120 shape as well as cool the extruded
material.
We find that Cope would have disclosed a composite extrusion profile, which can be
extruded material, prepared from a foamed extruded material that has “a smoother skin in the
final product” than in the prior art, which can be used for, among others, moldings and window
and door frames, wherein material that contains wood flour and a blowing agent “is extruded
through a die and into the shaper,” and wherein “[t]he material expands or foams as it enters the
3 We note here that the means-plus-function limitation in step “D.)” does not limit step “E.)” to
any additional structure associated with the structure disclosed in the specification to which the
language of step “D.)” is limited. Thus, we do not interpret claim 21 as limited to the cooling
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